1.5.6-Treblemirinlens
Brick!Club 1.5.6 Father Fauchelevent "Unluckily he had fallen so that the whole weight rested upon his breast.” No kidding. It sounds like he’s lucky to have even survived having it fall on him like that at all. I find it peculiar that Madeleine was offering to pay someone to move the cart before he even notices that Javert is there despite it being said in previous chapters that he was known around town for his feats of strength. When Javert arrived did he just suddenly stop pulling those stunts? But even at that you can’t stop the stories from floating around town, and a sudden halt to the use of super strength when someone who doesn’t like you comes to town seems like it would just add to the gossip. It’s also a bit maddening that most of the chapter sounds like the only thing that can possibly save Fauchelevent is the use of a jack or a person acting as a jack, and yet in the end it really did come down to a group effort. I realize it was a tense situation, but considering how he’s been previously described I’m surprised that Madeleine didn’t try organizing the group to lift the cart. Commentary Laissezferre hold on… so valjean doesn’t see himself as part of society, but at the same time, he doesn’t really wish to be a part of it? "As he was growing up, he felt as though he were on the outside of society and despaired of ever getting in…. At the same time, he felt in himself some kind of basic rigidity, steadiness, honesty, clouded by an inexpressible hatred for that race of bohemians to whom he belonged. He joined the police." (trans. JR) that sounds really familiar. Pilferingapples (reply to Laissezferre) SERIOUSLY. I’ve never gotten the POV of the Valjean/Javert pairings (and I’m never going to slash it, because…I’m me, and that’s Pants Business, so no) but the overlapping traits are becoming way more apparent this time around. I feel like kind of a jerk for not seeing them before! THANK YOU BRICK!CLUB FOR HELPING ME FEEL LIKE A JERK, this is way more interesting! Pilferingapples I think it’s pretty much in character that Madeleine doesn’t organizze a group effort? We’ve been told he keeps himself apart from other people; he leads by example and he’s willing to interact when he has to, but he hasn’t made himself personally part of the town at all. For all he may have changed at this point, both personally and in the eyes of the town, he still doesn’t see himself as PART of the group, or the group itself as something tractable. Treblemirinlens (reply to Pilferingapples) Ah, this is true! I was thinking of his problem-solving and general helping around town, but it’s true that he probably does most all his thinking from how an individual can handle things, not a group. Doeskin-pantaloons I understood it that because of the way the cart had fallen, the only way to lift it without killing Fauchelevent was from underneath, but then once if had been lifted a little to get it out of the mud other people could grab hold of the edges and lend a hand. (If I could draw, like, legit diagrams, I would illustrate how this works because I had to think about it lots to escape from the conclusion that townspeople are just douches.) With that in mind, though, the Madeleine offering to pay people thing becomes really weird and awkward. Clearly these people can’t lift the cart, or they would have done it. (Unless Madeleine believes that people need a monetary reward in order to save someone’s life in which case, woah, Madeleine, you have a tragic view of humanity. Which may be valid, given the kind of shit you’ve been through. But all the same, that is really sad.) But the sadder part is that Madeleine himself knows he can lift the cart - or at least I’m sure he’s aware he’s the most likely to be able to - and yet he won’t do it. Is it because he’s scared of drawing attention to himself? That’s been a character trait of his in the past, but seriously dude, you’re mayor now. That time has passed. So what’s the deal with this?